Werkkkkkkk!

That’s not a typo. It’s slang for “work it, sista!” As in, I am dedicated to werkkkkkkking (with an emphasis on the seven k’s) while I am suddenly not working (with an emphasis on the life we only get to live once slipping by in the glare of florescent office lights).

In addition to being a variety lady, I’m also a word slinger. That’s often unbelievable to people who only know me in one capacity, but it’s true. I own almost two masters degrees in English and Creative Writing. I also own a collection of the most fantastic jumpsuit costumes on planet earth.

Since 1998 (and longer if publications while in high school and college count), I’ve worked as a journalist, copywriter, technical writer, non-profit scribe and graduate student — crafting words about music, books, theater, cars, medical equipment, computer systems, people with developmental disabilities. I am a word machine. I don’t even record interviews and transcribe later; I whip out my laptop and type every friggin’ word someone says. I can type a zillion words a minute. With my eyes closed. While eating a sandwich.

So why has it taken me so long to launch this particular blog? Well, I’m a professional writer. Professional. It sounds fancy until you realize that it just means your extended family takes you more seriously than they did when you worked at a record store. Meanwhile, all of your words and ideas are transformed into little dancing monkeys that are eaten by a machine that spews out a paycheck. And when you get home, all you want to do is tear off your creased pants, put on a fantastic jumpsuit and flip around. Gulp non-conditioned air. Listen to records.

Oh, people, in that case, it is so hard to sit down and concentrate on the Revolva blog. It’s easier to concentrate on the Revolva Moves. I spend a ridiculous amount of my free time at the park (with my i-pod blasting Beyonce), at the Portland Juggling Club (with my i-pod blasting Beyonce), at the gym (with my i-pod … well, you get the point), taking various movement-oriented classes, flipping around, dancing and prancing.

I’d like to pause here to quote Jonas, the person who designed my rapidly-coming-to-completion website: “Remember that sometimes the only thing worse than NOT having a job is HAVING a job.” He said that when the contract writing job I had for a year and nine months unceremoniously laid me off a few weeks ago. With no unemployment benefits. He said it because he had just worked over a 50 hour week.

It’s possible to love more than one thing. It’s possible to be more than one kind of artist. Like all purely creative children, I just create stories with my body AND my mind. When I started morphing my dance and theater training into Revolva seven years ago, I was originally creating a character for a live comic book that I was writing. Back in Detroit, I was going to grad school and reading academic theory and dressing up in sequins as a variety act for Hell’s Belles Girlie Revue.

It’s one big life. Might as well feel it in every crinkle of the fingertips and every synapse in the brain. And when you’re not working (to quote Ru Paul), you better werkkkkkkk! More announcements about my future projects in upcoming posts. Let there be Revolva’s blog!

[insert image of me smashing a bottle of champagne against of my laptop]